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| Wednesday, February 8, 2006 09:51 AM |
| Secrets and Solemnity |
 by Fëanor |
- Someone has written what I would describe as an unofficial continuation to the SNES classic Super Mario World. It's called Secret Maryo, and it's funny I should come across it now, so soon after I did a post about video game rip-offs, and only a few days after I played the original Super Mario World for the first time in many years. Secret Maryo is a rip-off, but in the best kind of way; it steals the basics (and, really, most of the details, as well) from a great game in order to create new stages for that game and keep the action going. My only criticisms would be the lack of music and decent sound effects, and the lack of precision hit-detection (Maryo's "head" and "body" are misleadingly large when it comes to attempting accurate jumps).
I actually found the game to be a bit challenging, which I blame at least partially on the fact that I'm playing it with a keyboard instead of the handy SNES control pad, but next time I'm going to save my game and settle in for some serious, determined play, and I think I'll be able to at least get through the first set of levels. I'm not sure how far the game extends beyond that, but I'm looking forward to finding out. (Via Download Squad)
- Well, since Pixar is making a computer animated movie about rats, Dreamworks Animation has to have one, too, so here comes Flushed Away. The interesting thing about this one is that it was done in collaboration with Aardman Animation, the folks behind Wallace and Gromit; this time they're working in a computer instead of in clay. As if that weren't enough to get me excited, there's a cool trailer/behind the scenes movie at the official site that makes the film look quite promising. So, something else to look forward to. (Via Cinematical)
- Have I seen a vertical mouse before? I don't know. Anyway, looks like it might be fun to play with, although it's hard to say if I'd be willing to replace my regular mouse with it. (Via Digg)
- NY Times:
George C. Deutsch, the young presidential appointee at NASA who told public affairs workers to limit reporters' access to a top climate scientist and told a Web designer to add the word "theory" at every mention of the Big Bang, resigned yesterday, agency officials said. It turns out he also only had a high school diploma, which would be okay, I guess, except that he claimed on his resume that he graduated from Texas A&M University.
Well, that's one lying idiot down. Now, when can we start impeachment proceedings? (Via Digg)
- Some of these fantastically beautiful photos of the Chinese countryside remind me of Yes album covers by Roger Dean (and really, what higher praise could I give??), except that these are actual pictures of the real world. Amazing. (Via Digg)
- A live action film (enhanced with CGI elements, natch) of Clive Barker's excellent children's fantasy novel, The Thief of Always, is in the works. The film will be written and directed by Kelly Asbury, who co-directed Shrek 2, and also apparently wrote some children's books of his own. I really enjoyed this book (and I believe poppy and Peccable did, too), so I'll be curious to see how this comes out.
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